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July 19, 2025
 

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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 3, 2002
Reverend Horton Heat: 'Lucky 7'
By Jason Jenkins
Honky-tonks, hot rods and a half-dozen bottles of bourbon. Welcome to the wild and woolly world of the Reverend Horton Heat. It's been 10 years, four record labels and endless gallons of booze and premium unleaded since the good Reverend (aka Chris Heath) first introduced us to his blistering brand of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 3, 2002
Still chasing their dream
By Steve McClure
And then there were two . . . Dreams Come True keyboard player Takahiro Nishikawa's announcement on March 24 that he had left the pop trio wasn't all that surprising. For a long time Nishikawa had been very much the odd man out in the DCT lineup, especially after his involvement in a car accident a few...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 3, 2002
Jimi Tenor
By Philip Brasor
If there's enough temporal distance between your music and that music's source influence, you may be mistaken for an original. Better yet, if you strip that influence to its basics, you can be labeled a purist. Sometimes this strategy backfires, and you get people like Tiny Tim, a minimalist throwback...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 31, 2002
Abandon the search for meaning
By Philip Brasor
A not-so-funny thing happened to the Australian band Gerling on the way to Japan last fall. Having presented a buzz-worthy performance at last summer's Fuji Rock Festival, the trio was completely psyched for a Japan tour set for November. Then, America was attacked. But while a lot of bands subsequently...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 27, 2002
Stanton Moore: 'Flyin' the Koop'
By Michael Pronko
Stanton Moore has been the drummer for New Orleans' favorite funky jam band, Galactic, since the early '90s. That band earned its following the old-fashioned way, by playing hard and heavy music to make audiences groove. Moore's solo projects, however, lean more toward jazz, but without ever leaving...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Mar 27, 2002
Groove is in the House
By Steve McClure
Ambitious is the word that comes to mind when looking at the publicity material for the inaugural New York-Tokyo Music Festival. Scheduled to take place in the Big Apple May 23-26, the event will feature live performances by a variety of Japanese artists, including Towa Tei, Ken Ishii and Mondo Grosso....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 27, 2002
Pet Shop Boys: 'Release'
By Philip Brasor
More than 16 years ago, Neil Tennant emerged as the Noel Coward of dance pop when he and fellow Pet Shop Boy Chris Lowe exhorted all the young dudes to "make lots of money." Like the playwright, Tennant sauntered on to the scene fully jaded, his wit already acerbic, his ironies prickly with cynicism....
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 27, 2002
O-Ne: '2624'
By Simon Bartz
I ask Tokyo duo O-Ne why their long-awaited debut album is called "2624." Is that a combination of the ages of the two chicks in the band? Is that when the world's gonna finally end? Or is that the black-market price in pounds sterling for a ticket to see England whip the ass of Argentina in the upcoming...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 27, 2002
Macha: 'The Ride'
By Jason Jenkins
After the disbanding of their Gainesville, Fla.-based prog-rock group Emperor Moth, multi-instrumentalist brothers Joshua and Mishco Makay moved to Athens, Ga., where they formed Macha. The shift from one thriving college town to another -- and a backpacking trip through Southeast Asia -- changed their...
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Mar 24, 2002
Music, an improvised definition
By Suzannah Tartan
Improvised music poses a considerable critical challenge. It now takes in such a wide variety of styles -- from jazz to minimalist electronica, from contemporary classical music to rock -- there is no one absolute set of criteria by which to judge it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 20, 2002
Boards of Canada: 'Geogaddi'
By Jason Jenkins
Electronic music isn't known for its sentimentality. However, when critics wrote about Boards of Canada's 1998 release, "Music Has the Right to Children," the word "nostalgia" was kicked around more than once. The amalgam of Vangelis-like keyboards and loops of school kids at play unearthed subconscious...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 20, 2002
Lee 'Scratch' Perry: 'Jamaican e.t.'
By Simon Bartz
Lee "Scratch" Perry has been stumbling along the very fine line between eccentricity and insanity for more than 30 years, and his latest album, "Jamaican e.t.," is one of his most mind-scrambling yet.
Living conditions index hits lowest level in 15 years in Japan
The share of respondents to a Bank of Japan quarterly survey in June who said they have become worse off came to 61.0%, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
Tokyo emerges as a top market for global tech talent
Tokyo ranks among the world's top tech talent hubs alongside Beijing, the San Francisco Bay Area, Bengaluru, Paris, New York and Dublin, according to Colliers' newly released global tech markets report.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
CDP leader criticizes ‘Japanese First’ policy and calls for inclusive society
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda said it is obvious that Japanese society could not function without the help of foreign workers in manufacturing, health care, construction and public transportation.
JSA’s 100th anniversary event is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for sumo fans
Egyptian wrestler Osunaarashi has some fun with children during a special Japan Sumo Association event in 2017.
Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

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